We will be running the 200 mile Reach the Beach Relay New Hampshire from Cannon Mountain to Hampton Beach taking place 13-14 September 2013. We are again collectively raising money for Partners in Health, to help support the expansion of PIH's rural health clinics in the Chiapas region of Mexico (a high-poverty area).
The Sierra of Chiapas, Mexico is classified as one of the country's marginalized (high-poverty) areas by the Mexican government. In these remote mountains, farming families often face a cycle of poverty and disease: they are more vulnerable to illness because they are poor, and become further impoverished by spending their limited income on accessing health care. But hope lies in a network of public primary care clinics spread throughout the mountains.
Partners In Health's sister organization, Companeros en Salud (PIH/CES) works each day to revitalize these underperforming clinics and break the cycle of poverty and disease. CES works directly with Mexican doctors, nurses, and community members to provide to a full range of primary care services for rural families who previously had no reliable health care options. The organization strives to be a model of excellence for primary health care in rural Mexico.
Current CES-supported public clinics serve a direct catchment area of 12,000 people across 23 communities, however, the exceptional level of care offered at these clinics draws patients from over 100 communities-they are "voting with their feet" and going out of their way to seek out CES services.
